This is a page for recording photographs, stories, and experiences from the 2005 Whole Earth Festival.

WEF 2005 Poster

The 2005 Whole Earth Festival was held May 6-8th on the UC Davis Quad grounds. This year's theme was "Conscious Creation". A wide variety of people attended the Festival, everyone from small children to aging hippies to college students. The Chairs were Mike Nolan and Tao Wysocki. See the remarkable 2005 Whole Earth Festival lineup with show times, stage listings, as well as downloadable songs from many of the artist's. Some of the highlights were Jason Webley (Rob Roy believes Webley may very well be the earth's greatest performer), Faith Petric, The Zim-Zims, Aphrodesia, and Garrett Pierce. Memorable attractions included the band Clan Dyken, who performed a cover of John Lennon's Imagine, a workshop on Art and Activism led by two women who engaged the audience in call-and-response singing and gesturing, and some Sufi music and poetry presented by Mehdi, an employee of our local Davis Food Co-Op. Musician/entertainer Jason Webley also came to WEF for the first time and was a huge crowd-pleaser.

A representative of Amnesty International led a workshop about letter-writing on behalf of prisoners of conscience, and participants composed their own letters to various leaders.

People led other workshops on a variety of topics - everything from bike repair to natural household cleaners to the war in Iraq.

Solar power for the main stage was provided by PVUSA and Quantum Energy (the solar array in the middle of the east side of the quad).

Mother Nature decided to bless us with rain on Sunday, however, the festival went on, rain or shine. Some vendors and food booths continued operating, the music kept playing, and the parking monitors were outfitted with umbrellas to protect against the elements.

There were some very dedicated grassroots activists present circulating petitions to ban the chemical dihydrogen monoxide - present in nuclear waste and currently unregulated by the US government.

The Karma Patrol and other volunteers also put in hours of work sorting trash, setting up and taking down tents and stages, monitoring the festival - everything needed to put on an event of this size.

THE 2005 WHOLE EARTH FESTIVAL DIVERTED 97.1% OF THEIR WASTE STREAM INTO RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING!

Photos

Lots of people. Dude, is that guy yawning? Lots and lots of people. Lots and lots and LOTS of people - all enjoying the beautiful day. Members of the band Alma Melodiosa perform on the Walker Hall stage. Bold T-shirts hanging from the anarchist booth. This little boy was a really good violin player. He was standing in front of the Coho and appeared to be alone.

Photos by JanelleAlvstadMattson: Dancing with fire on Saturday night. My favorite pic from the firedance.

Photos by KenBloom: Karma Patrol sorting trash More Karma Patrol sorting trash to reclaim anything that can be composted or recycled KenBloom posing with a metal skeleton sculpture LUGOD's booth. Somehow, Open Source Software is within the purview of the Whole Earth Festival

Photos by PhilipNeustrom: Solar panels lined the quad. Creative recycling signs. Another vegetable powered car. All the campus trash cans were turned over and piled up.

Anecdotes (aka Memory Photos)

A VW bus powered by vegetable oil!

On Saturday night, I was wrapping up a Campus Cinema event, walking back and forth from 194 Chem to my car, when I encountered two different people wandering around asking directions for "where they parked". Neither had any idea where they had parked, and one gave a description of "it was... uhhh... near some bushes". I think they both lacked an idea of the size of campus.

After getting to my car, I found two people in sleeping bags partially under it. I think they thought I was just running them off when I told them I was going to drive away in half an hour and they might want to find a better place to sleep. The person sleeping in the car next to mine just hid under the covers. Hey - I've slept in many a car and under the stars - no worries about me, but people seemed to be paranoid about being run off.

One thing that brings a smile to my face is the large number of campervans and RVs. Having meandered with the Grateful Dead a bit and known a few people in the wandering lifestyle, it puts me in mind of a semi-gathering. Since I'm looking to build my own stealth cv next year, I really enjoyed seeing all the homes on wheels.